After consuming half a cow and drinking a skinful at the BBQ cook off I was incapable of draggin meself out of bed at 5:30am for the dawn wave sailing session at East Beach. And why is that a good thing? Well looky here:
Yeeee-HAWWWWW!
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Rodeo to the Rescue
Nah, not the famous freestyle board, I'm talking about the Houston Rodeo.
After consuming half a cow and drinking a skinful at the BBQ cook off I was incapable of draggin meself out of bed at 5:30am for the dawn wave sailing session at East Beach. And why is that a good thing? Well looky here:
After consuming half a cow and drinking a skinful at the BBQ cook off I was incapable of draggin meself out of bed at 5:30am for the dawn wave sailing session at East Beach. And why is that a good thing? Well looky here:
Monday, February 20, 2012
Wave Board History
I didn't sail this weekend, but word on the street is that we had a nice NW breeze on Saturday (Hi Laura!). I have owned a lot of boards over the last 8 years. In particular I have turned my wave boards around pretty often. It's actually quite interesting, for me at least, how my boards have changed. Here are the boards:
2004 JP Freestyle Wave 84
2006 Fanatic Freewave 78
2008 Fanatic Allwave 82
2009 Mistral Twinzer 84
2010 Quatro Quad 75
2011 Quatro KT 83
JP 84 - my first short board. Did the job, didn't really see much action in the waves to be honest.
Freewave 78 - I bought this one based on a glowing test report in windsurf magazine. It was fun, fast, planed early and was great for jumping. It worked nice in the waves if you weren't going fast but it got really stiff as you got faster. To be honest I was surprised it did so well in a waveboard test. The conditions where it worked well for me, I would have been better on a bigger freestyle wave. As my wave sailing progressed I started looking for my next board...
Allwave 82 - windsurf magazine described it as having "Awesome carving performance" and "radical waveriding performance for less than perfect wave conditions". Sounded perfect for Texas. I had to have it!! Did it have awesome carving performance? Oh yes. It was really really nice for down the line riding and excelled at Port Aransas. It was really drivy in the bottom turn. I could push HARD. Problem was it took a lot of wind to get going and so I struggled with it in side-on North Packery. I also thought the top turn was a bit stiff. Then I read the boardseeker twin fin test and apparently there was a board that did it all!
Mistral Twinzer 84 - it does do pretty much everything they said. Planes earlier than the Allwave, turns really tight especially off the top, big wind range. I love it with my 5.6 and I love it with my 4.2. It is perfect for making the most of Texas wave sailing conditions. One thing is missing though, whilst it turns tight it is missing the drive of the Allwave that I found so enchanting.
Quatro Quad 75 - hangs on the wall looking beautiful. Too small for me and Texas wave sailing.
Quatro KT 83 - OK I admit it. I don't actually have one of these!! But I did ride one in Punta San Carlos and Maui and it is on another level. Combine all the best things about the Allwave and Twinzer and you have the KT. It is FAST on the wave, the harder you crank the bottom turn the better it feels and the top turn is nice and loose. I'm guessing it will be a bit sticky and slow to plane in 5.3 side-on conditions, but I could keep the Twinzer for those conditions, right?! You may be asking why I don't have one... I know I am... just need to find a home for that beautiful tiny little 75 first...
2004 JP Freestyle Wave 84
2006 Fanatic Freewave 78
2008 Fanatic Allwave 82
2009 Mistral Twinzer 84
2010 Quatro Quad 75
2011 Quatro KT 83
 |
| Some of my babies |
JP 84 - my first short board. Did the job, didn't really see much action in the waves to be honest.
Freewave 78 - I bought this one based on a glowing test report in windsurf magazine. It was fun, fast, planed early and was great for jumping. It worked nice in the waves if you weren't going fast but it got really stiff as you got faster. To be honest I was surprised it did so well in a waveboard test. The conditions where it worked well for me, I would have been better on a bigger freestyle wave. As my wave sailing progressed I started looking for my next board...
Allwave 82 - windsurf magazine described it as having "Awesome carving performance" and "radical waveriding performance for less than perfect wave conditions". Sounded perfect for Texas. I had to have it!! Did it have awesome carving performance? Oh yes. It was really really nice for down the line riding and excelled at Port Aransas. It was really drivy in the bottom turn. I could push HARD. Problem was it took a lot of wind to get going and so I struggled with it in side-on North Packery. I also thought the top turn was a bit stiff. Then I read the boardseeker twin fin test and apparently there was a board that did it all!
Mistral Twinzer 84 - it does do pretty much everything they said. Planes earlier than the Allwave, turns really tight especially off the top, big wind range. I love it with my 5.6 and I love it with my 4.2. It is perfect for making the most of Texas wave sailing conditions. One thing is missing though, whilst it turns tight it is missing the drive of the Allwave that I found so enchanting.
Quatro Quad 75 - hangs on the wall looking beautiful. Too small for me and Texas wave sailing.
Quatro KT 83 - OK I admit it. I don't actually have one of these!! But I did ride one in Punta San Carlos and Maui and it is on another level. Combine all the best things about the Allwave and Twinzer and you have the KT. It is FAST on the wave, the harder you crank the bottom turn the better it feels and the top turn is nice and loose. I'm guessing it will be a bit sticky and slow to plane in 5.3 side-on conditions, but I could keep the Twinzer for those conditions, right?! You may be asking why I don't have one... I know I am... just need to find a home for that beautiful tiny little 75 first...
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Deja Vu
Haven't I seen this somewhere before?
Not quite... this is the marine for Galveston this weekend. Quintana could be the call for Sunday. Please, please, please...etc, etc.
| Saturday Northeast winds 15 to 20 knots. Seas 3 to 4 feet. |
| Saturday Night Northeast winds 15 to 20 knots increasing to 20 to 25 knots after midnight. Seas 3 to 5 feet. |
| Sunday Northeast winds 20 to 25 knots becoming east 15 to 20 knots in the afternoon. Seas 4 to 5 feet. A slight chance of showers in the morning...then a chance of showers and isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon. |
Not quite... this is the marine for Galveston this weekend. Quintana could be the call for Sunday. Please, please, please...etc, etc.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Wave Sailing Tracks
Heading to Port A Sunday morning in driving rain with the temperature showing as 46F I figured I would have the place to myself. When I arrived, the rain stopped and I was plenty warm on the water. Maybe the warm water radiates heat or something.
I experimented with filming myself but it didn't really work out. Too zoomed out to get any of the hot radical wave sailing action. But then as I was fast forwarding through the footage I found the tracks I take quite interesting so edited it a little and made this short clip (had to try vimeo cos it's so zoomed out...).
I experimented with filming myself but it didn't really work out. Too zoomed out to get any of the hot radical wave sailing action. But then as I was fast forwarding through the footage I found the tracks I take quite interesting so edited it a little and made this short clip (had to try vimeo cos it's so zoomed out...).
Wave Sailing Tracks from Mike Campbell on Vimeo.
What is interesting? Well I sail one big triangle. Coming back in on a wave I make a LOT of ground upwind then lose it all in just 2 or 3 bottom turns. At one point (0:54) I'm slogging on the inside and you can see the current dragging me downwind. All of which I thought were pretty cool.Sunday, February 5, 2012
The Guru Speaks
Saturday 12:04pm... the phone rings.
Me: "Hello"
Guru: "Mike, are you in Corpus?"
Me: "No, we're in Houston, eating lunch. Why?"
Guru: "It is going to be good at Port Aransas after 3pm."
Me: "Oh"
Saturday 4:07pm... pull up at Port A.
Fun session. I rigged big (5.6) and plucked up the courage to try some Goitas. As usual, the first attempt was the best then the crashes got progressively more messy.
Me: "Hello"
Guru: "Mike, are you in Corpus?"
Me: "No, we're in Houston, eating lunch. Why?"
Guru: "It is going to be good at Port Aransas after 3pm."
Me: "Oh"
Saturday 4:07pm... pull up at Port A.
 |
| The ferry crossing |
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Wednesday Night Tease
Saturday...Northeast wind 10 to 15 knots becoming north 15 to 20 knots in the afternoon. Seas 2 to 4 feet. A chance of thunderstorms in the morning. A chance of showers.
Saturday Night...North wind 15 to 20 knots increasing to 20 to 25 knots after midnight. Seas 4 to 6 feet. A chance of light rain.
Sunday...North wind 20 to 25 knots. Seas 5 to 7 feet. A chance of showers.
Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please.... pleeeeeeeease let it be true.
Saturday Night...North wind 15 to 20 knots increasing to 20 to 25 knots after midnight. Seas 4 to 6 feet. A chance of light rain.
Sunday...North wind 20 to 25 knots. Seas 5 to 7 feet. A chance of showers.
Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please.... pleeeeeeeease let it be true.
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